


glimpse the happiness of thousands

by nadiavandyne



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Feral Lives (Star Wars), Fluff, Light Angst, Loyalty, Self-Esteem Issues, Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2020, physical affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27454714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiavandyne/pseuds/nadiavandyne
Summary: Savage walks into their living room just as Riyo flops down on the couch in a flair of fabric, her cape settling down around her until she’s lounging on what can only be described as a waterfall of deep burgundy cloth.
Relationships: Riyo Chuchi/Savage Opress
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020





	glimpse the happiness of thousands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nixie_DeAngel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nixie_DeAngel/gifts).



Savage walks into their living room just as Riyo flops down on the couch in a flair of fabric, her cape settling down around her until she’s lounging on what can only be described as a waterfall of deep burgundy cloth. 

She’s still in her work clothes-- mostly. Her shoes have been replaced with her soft indoor slippers, her heels from the day sitting pointed towards the door, but other than that, she stills looks like she just walked straight off of the holoscreen playing the news coverage of today’s Senate hearing. 

“Riyo,” he greets, delights in the way her face lights up as she hears his voice. It’s too good for him, that he knows, she deserves someone so much better, but--

She chose him. She chose him, and that’s her choice to make, and he may be undeserving of her, but she still chose him. 

“Hi,” she replies, grinning up at him. “How’re you?”

Savage doesn’t quite smile, but he gets close to it. “Good,” he replies, relishing in the fact that it’s _true_ , that he woke up this morning and had a good day, that he can say so, and not fear the sting of lightning on his skin, not feel the press of the lie behind his teeth. He had a good day, and he can say that, he had a good day, and for some reason that fact makes Riyo glow, which just tops it all off.

He can feel the tendrils of her happiness in the Force, a shimmery yellow like her Chuchi markings entwining with a deep blue that reminds him of the sky above Iridonia, reminds him of Feral’s excitement as they stood side by side and realized they truly were free from Dathomir. They’d both been technically free for a while at that point, but it hadn’t truly sunk in, not until that moment, when childhood dreams had become a reality.

"The opposition to your bill?" Savage asks, moving to stand behind her. His hands drop down to her shoulders, massaging lightly, and the noise she makes in response is nothing less than addicting. 

"I took care of it," Riyo says after a moment, rolling her shoulders back into his hands. The part of him with Feral's curiosity wants to inquire about how she did, but the logical part of him kicks in before he even opens his mouth, and reminds him that for plausible deniability reasons, it's probably best that she doesn't say it out loud.

She'd tell him, if he asked. He knows that. So he won't. 

If he thought she'd lie, or deflect, he would, but… she won't. Not to him, not about this. 

She's a politician, but she's nothing like the witches. Cunning, and ruthless, but respect drips from her every action, kindness flowing through her veins. She'll never push him, never try to take what he's unwilling to give, and that's more precious than any kind of power could be.

She's incredibly protective of those she considers her own, and it aches, sometimes, just how good she is, how he could never even hope to compare. He failed to protect just Feral, but she cradles an entire planet full of people in her two delicate hands, protects them with delicate lavender-painted claws and maroon lips curling back to reveal bared teeth, for all that she refuses to hold a blaster. He wishes, sometimes, that she would, that she'd give herself that kind of protection, but—

Savage has been made to fight against his will before, and he'll die before he lets the same thing happen to Riyo.

Savage hums in response, and Riyo tips her head back, her golden eyes as hot as the sun when they latch onto his own. "Would you help me take down my hair?" she requests, her voice it's usual melody, and Savage nods once, a short, staccato thing. She doesn't seem to mind, though— she never seems to mind his rough edges, all the places where Mother Talzin's spell seems to falter, where he feels too large and too small all at once. 

Riyo settles herself on one of her plush pale lilac ottomans, legs folding beneath her, and hands him a pearl-adorned hairbrush. It feels so small, so delicate in his hands, and he knows he shouldn't be trusted with it, knows that all he's good at is breaking things, but—

He wants to be someone who should be trusted with it. He wants to be good at something other than destruction. And Riyo seems to think that he can be— more than that, she seems to think that he _already_ is. 

Riyo's hair is done up in a crown of elegant swirls today, all culminating in an elegant bun sitting at the nape of her neck, small pins holding the 'do together. A golden headdress adorns her forehead and twists back behind her head to provide the structure for the bun.

He begins by removing the pins that curl her hair up into a crown, letting the swirls fall down around her face. They hold their shape well, since her hairspray has hardened them, and he cards his fingers through them, pulling them apart. 

Savage then moves onto the large golden headpiece, starting by unwinding the hair that's twisted around it in the back. Less hairspray has been applied to this part of her hair, and there's much less resistance from it as he slowly lets it cascade down her back. From there, it's simple work to remove the headpiece itself, and he rubs gently at the faint dark blue lines on the forehead where it had pressed into Riyo's skin.

Riyo makes a noise of contentment and curls her head back into his hands. Savage pauses, forces himself not to instinctively move away, reminds himself that she's much less breakable than she seems to be at first glance.

After all, he'd met her when a group of far-right Pantorans, angry that she refused to join the Separatists, had kidnapped her to try to win the Count's favor, and he'd been there in person to see how _that_ went down. 

She'd been halfway to successfully negotiating both her own release and that of Feral when Padawan Tano swooped in with clones and a vengeance to rescue her— and Feral, after a bit of prompting. 

His Master had been furious, and he'd taken that fury out on Savage, but the glint of her golden eyes as she wined and dined for the release of not just herself, but her cell mate as well, Savage's _brother_ , had stuck with him. It had stuck with him, equal amounts of fear and hope rising within him as dawn broke, the swirl of uncertainty regarding Feral's fate in Republic custody warring with the warmth of knowing he was out of his Master's hands, and that bit of light on the horizon hadn't been the _only_ reason he fled to the Republic instead of Dathomir when his Master betrayed him, but—

But it had played a not-insufficient part in that decision nonetheless. That simple act of kindness, and the determination needed to carry it through, was a kind of strength that was unfamiliar to the Savage that served Count Dooku, the Savage who he once had been.

Feral has always had that kind of strength, but since Savage was made to snap his neck, Savage had been unable to keep seeing it as a strength. Riyo had unknowingly forced him to reconsider that point of view, and he's unspeakably thankful to her for that.

There’s a lot of things that feel unspeakable, though. A lot of things that feel like they’ll bowl him over if he ever tries to put them into words, and that scares him. 

It scares him, but it’s not a paralyzing fear. Not anymore. Every time he can say he has had a good day, every time he can openly express his feelings and not fear that they’ll be used against him, the fear coiled tight in his chest unravels just the smallest amount, letting him breathe.

“Thank you,” she mumbles, her voice sleepy, and nuzzles her head back further into his hands. The knot in his chest loosens just a little at the sensation, and he feels himself start to smile, can’t quite stop it.

  
“Thank _you_ , my heart."

**Author's Note:**

> Nixie_DeAngel, I hope you enjoyed!!!
> 
> These two are just 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I love them so, so much. 
> 
> This is also like, hands down the fluffiest thing I have ever written, lol. What can I say, these two just make me SO SOFT.
> 
> (And I promise Feral is alive, okay, he just got hurt, I promise you this is all fluff, he does not show up BUT he is ALIVE, his canon fate can eff off.)


End file.
